Apple overhauls iPod lineup with new 5G iPod touch, taller iPod nano

iPod touch, nano both get bigger screens, many colors.

Apple took the stage today to reveal a number of new products, including wide-ranging changes to its iPod lineup.

2011 was a boring year for the iPod, which received no real updates last September. As the devices have accounted for a smaller and smaller piece of Apple's revenue (and as smartphones and tablets have obviated the need for dedicated media players), updates to the devices have been less and less consequential. This year, there are still a few "old-style" iPods hanging around, but the other updates paint a picture of an iPod that is adjusting to today's PC-free, always-connected, streaming-heavy marketplace.

To that end, Apple has updated the iPod touch to bring it in line with the iPhone 5, particularly in its 4" 1136x640 display and its use of Apple's updated 8-pin "Lightning" dock connector. The front-facing camera has been upgraded to be capable of 720p shooting, and the rear-facing iSight-branded camera has gotten a bump to a five megapixel sensor that should bring it roughly in line with the quality of the iPhone 4 and third-generation iPad. The camera has an LED flash, is capable of 1080p video shooting, and has the same Panorama feature as the new iPhone 5. Bluetooth 4.0 and dual-band 802.11n support is also included, and a small loop for a wrist strap will pop out of the device for greater security while taking photos. The new iPod touch is available in several colors, including black, white, blue, yellow, and red.

The new iPod touch's wrist strap loop.

Nathan Mattise/Ars Technica

Nathan Mattise/Ars Technica

The new iPod touch can shoot the same panoramic images as the iPhone 5.

Nathan Mattise/Ars Technica

The new iPod touch, which weighs 88 grams and is 6.1mm thick, also trades the fourth-generation device's single-core A4 SoC for a faster dual-core Apple A5. While Apple likes to play coy with things like clock speed and RAM quantity, this A5 is likely a relative of the lower-power 32nm A5 in the current iPad 2, which should make its performance similar to the iPhone 4S. All iterations of the A5 that we've seen so far have included 512MB of RAM, and it would surprise me if the fifth-generation iPod touch came with any less.

The bad news is that this raft of changes is only applicable to the mid- and high-end iPod touches: the low-end iPod touch will include iOS 6, but retains the same screen and internals of the fourth-generation touch. This wouldn't be the first time Apple has bifurcated the iPod touch lineup, though it's a bit easier to tell the new iPod touch apart from the old one: Apple continued selling the second-generation iPod touch as its entry-level device after the third-generation iPod touch was released in 2009.

The entry-level fourth-generation iPod touch will be available with 16GB and 32GB of storage and retails for $199 and $249; the new fifth-generation models will begin shipping in October in 32GB and 64GB capacities, and will sell for $299 and $399 respectively. The 8GB model has been discontinued.

iPod nano

Nathan Mattise/Ars Technica

The iPod nano uses the new "Lightning" dock connector.

Nathan Mattise/Ars Technica

The iPod nano occupies a niche between Apple's flagship iOS devices and the iPod shuffle, iPod classic, and other iPods of years past. In 2010, the sixth generation nano got a touchscreen that mimics iOS, although its operating system has nothing to do with iOS. This year, the new 5.4mm thin nano receives a taller 2.5" touchscreen, the same Home button as its iOS cousins, Bluetooth connectivity, and an integrated FM tuner, as well as a 30-hour battery life. The taller nano does away with one use case that Apple played up when it "refreshed" the nano last year, though—it will be much harder to strap these taller nanos into a wristband and use them as touch-enabled watches.

The new nanos, which will be available this October, also come in a variety of colors: white, black, purple, green, blue, yellow, and red. A 16GB model will be available for $149.

The new nano comes in many colors.

Nathan Mattise/Ars Technica

iPod shuffle

There are practically no changes to the iPod shuffle; after a few years of toying with different and sometimes bizarre designs, Apple seems to have settled on the 2010 design as the definitive one. It retains the click wheel on the face of the device, and the clip on the rear is the same. The device still charges using a cable that connects the headphone jack to a USB port on your computer, rather than using the redesigned dock connector. The sole change is in colors: the new shuffle will match the white, black, purple, green, blue, yellow, and red hues of the new iPod nano.

Apple will sell you a 2GB iPod shuffle for $49, the same capacity and price as before.

iPod classic

The iPod Classic has been on the deathwatch list for quite some time. The device has seen no updates at all since the current 160GB version was introduced in 2009, and that was merely a capacity bump to the 120GB version introduced in 2008. The iPod Classic was again unchanged at this year's event, but it has evaded the headsman for at least one more year and retains its niche status as a relatively inexpensive high-capacity player. The 160GB Classic remains on sale for $249.

While I dislike Apple's business practices in general, and find the iPhone to be, well, lackluster, I actually liked the 6th generation iPod Touch. I'm sorry to see them dump the watch-style form factor.

The New Nano is earth-shatteringly ugly. I was hoping for 32gb as well.Gah, I'm so underwhelmed.. and the new Touch is ugly as well, why has the black bit returned to the top corner when it wasnt present on the previous generation?

The iPod lineup is an embarrassment. . . Making the Nano *bigger*? No GPS in any of them? What a missed opportunity to actually do something interesting. I bet they've even crippled the bluetooth in the Nano to be audio only.

The Touch got a nice upgrade on the display and the processor. But the capacity is going backwards. The Shuffle has no real update and remains such a small capacity. The Nano took a step backwards by becoming larger.

The Touch better get a price reduction to match the capacity reduction.

I just want an iPod Nano with more than 16GB... 64GB at least. Come on, I had 16 GB 5 years ago.

LOL. Presently, Apple charges an extraordinary amount of inbuilt storage compared to, say, SD cards--hence why no Apple mobile device has or ever will support SD. A 64GB Nano under Apple's regime would have to be priced at $300 or something ridiculous.

...so with no mention of a new high-capacity player, can we presume that the classic is well and truly dead?..all their talk about loving fidelity is ultimately hollow if apple doesn't back it up with product support for lossless libraries...

...somehow i doubt tim cook will pull another mac-pro-style redeux over the outgoing ipod classic...

Without sounding too negative. Why do we need a big production for improvements like these? I'll tell you why.Because its part of Apple's marketing scheme to atract your impulse buying habits. People buy based on impulse with many things. If people actually thought out a purchase we probably would buy a whole lot less. The iPhone is a little faster,a little bigger. The Nano is a little taller and thinner? So is the ipod Touch.Yet Apple makes these small changes as worthy of a major event? I always thought the Nano was a dud. I had to sell my 6th generation one because the touch screen on such a small square device was not practical.This next one looks to be better but still, do we need a event for it? Are these the great new products in the pipeline? If this is a example of what Apple considers exciting I think they need to rethink their product development.

You all may want to correct the article. The old iPod Touch is still available in 16 and 32GB sizes and the new one is 32 and 64. Comparisons, including all prices. Looks like the Classic lives to fight another day.

That should firmly kill the silly rumors about the 8" iPad mini starting at $249.

But it starts at 32GB. I agree that $249 is hugely flawed, but a 16GB 8" iPad mini might still land at $299. It would likely to be limited to 16GB in that case. Trade off screen size versus storage capacity for the same $299 price point. Apple could start the iPad mini at $399 but that will just give the 7" Android offerings lots of breathing space.

Without sounding too negative. Why do we need a big production for improvements like these? I'll tell you why.Because its part of Apple's marketing scheme to atract your impulse buying habits. People buy based on impulse with many things. If people actually thought out a purchase we probably would buy a whole lot less. The iPhone is a little faster,a little bigger. The Nano is a little taller and thinner? So is the ipod Touch.Yet Apple makes these small changes as worthy of a major event? I always thought the Nano was a dud. I had to sell my 6th generation one because the touch screen on such a small square device was not practical.This next one looks to be better but still, do we need a event for it? Are these the great new products in the pipeline? If this is a example of what Apple considers exciting I think they need to rethink their product development.

They're an industry leader. I guess you shouldn't click on apple articles, much less comment on them.

Was any mention made of whether any of the devices could connect via USB3?

Without sounding too negative. Why do we need a big production for improvements like these? I'll tell you why.Because its part of Apple's marketing scheme to atract your impulse buying habits. People buy based on impulse with many things. If people actually thought out a purchase we probably would buy a whole lot less. The iPhone is a little faster,a little bigger. The Nano is a little taller and thinner? So is the ipod Touch.Yet Apple makes these small changes as worthy of a major event? I always thought the Nano was a dud. I had to sell my 6th generation one because the touch screen on such a small square device was not practical.This next one looks to be better but still, do we need a event for it? Are these the great new products in the pipeline? If this is a example of what Apple considers exciting I think they need to rethink their product development.

What were you hoping to do on the Nano? The screen was just large enough to review your playlist and navigate your songs. That's all I want on a music player. I don't like the shuffle because I do like seeing the playlist. Glad I have an older Nano I guess.

The new Nano looks like a Zune HD in almost every aspect except for the software and the home button. The Zune HD probably has a higher resolution screen too. And if this iPod Nano still doesn't support apps, then that still puts the Zune HD ahead since there was a small app store available.

That should firmly kill the silly rumors about the 8" iPad mini starting at $249.

But it starts at 32GB. I agree that $249 is hugely flawed, but a 16GB 8" iPad mini might still land at $299. It would likely to be limited to 16GB in that case. Trade off screen size versus storage capacity for the same $299 price point. Apple could start the iPad mini at $399 but that will just give the 7" Android offerings lots of breathing space.

An 8" screen + bigger battery (needed for the bigger screen) and a bigger case will cost a lot more than 16GB of flash. iPad Mini will come in $349 or $399 starting price. iPad 2 will be dropped from lineup.

Apple really is not now, and never had any intention of price competing with the 7", subsidized zero profit tablets. Anymore than it's macbooks price compete with low end (low margin) laptops. The Apple business model is all about building HW products it can sell for healthy profit margins.

When I heard that it was being updated (Just after I bought it) I was kicking myself thinking the new model would be better, but the main thing I liked about the old model was that it could be used as a wristwatch.

The new Nano looks like a Zune HD in almost every aspect except for the software and the home button. The Zune HD probably has a higher resolution screen too. And if this iPod Nano still doesn't support apps, then that still puts the Zune HD ahead since there was a small app store available.

I think they missed out in that aspect. A miniApp market for the Nano could have been pretty cool.

I think the new Touch looks great (I'm still using my 1st gen, this will probably be enough to get me to upgrade), and I'd have to see/hold the new Nano, but I thought the last one was too small for much useful touch stuff. Disappointed more in the software side than the hardware side.

I'm just not seeing enough imagination/innovation on the Apple App side. Here's a cool little iPod Touch, why not release it with a few cool new tools? Or as somebody mentioned, can't they shove GPS on these babies? Looking at the new Nano's page at the Apple site, there just isn't one cool little piece of software on it that makes you go "Wow!". They couldn't have worked with a local gaming company to make a couple Nano games? Offer Rovio a bunch of $$$ for them to make a special Nano Birds for it or something?

Seems like a missed opportunity to make these gizmos a little more fun.

Andrew Cunningham / Andrew has a B.A. in Classics from Kenyon College and has over five years of experience in IT. His work has appeared on Charge Shot!!! and AnandTech, and he records a weekly book podcast called Overdue.